Ascendas Mahindra IT Park phase-I on stream

CHENNAI: Ascendas Mahindra IT Park, a joint venture company between well-known business space provider, Ascendas, and Mahindra World City, has kick-started the first phase of its Rs. 200-crore IT Park at Mahindra World City near here.

The IT Park is christened as CyberVale. Ascendas will hold 74 per cent in CyberVale. The balance will be held by Mahindra World City, which is a joint venture between the Mahindra Group and the State Government-owned TIDCO. CyberVale is the second IT Park project for Ascendas in Tamil Nadu. It has already a project in the State in the name and style of International Tech Park Chennai.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday to mark the launch of the first phase of the IT Park at Mahidra World City, Chong Siak Ching, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ascendas Pte Ltd., said CyberVale was the company’s maiden IT SEZ (special economic zone) park project in India. Spread across 18.5 acres, it would come up in four phases. The first phase with a built-up space of 2.5 lakh sq. ft. was ready for occupation, she added.

When fully completed by 2008, CyberVale would house nearly 12,000 professionals. Ms. Ching said the project had 100 per cent commitment from leading IT and ITeS (IT-enabled Services) companies for two phases, totalling half-a-million sq. ft.

Ms. Ching said the Rs. 200-crore project would have an equity component of around Rs. 50-60 crore. The balance would be raised through debt and external financing.

She said Ascendas was also developing three more IT SEZs in India — a 26-acre project within its flagship International Tech Park Bangalore, and one each in Pune and Nagpur.

“We are also looking to expand in other parts of the country,” she said. She said Ascendas had developed about five million sq. ft. business space in India and invested around Rs. 2,500 crore since it entered the country a few years ago. Ascendas would add another five million sq. ft. of office space in the next three years, she added.

Ascendas, she said, had launched an Ascendas India Development Fund. The private development fund would focus on special economic zones (SEZs) and integrated developments. She said that investors had committed to bring in Singapore $500 million into the fund. Ascendas could leverage the fund, floated in June this year, to invest Singapore $1 billion into India over a period, she pointed out. The company had launched Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust), the first India property trust in Singapore.